Cinnamon Blues
by M.C.E.Black
Summary: With their memories swiped entirely, Rukia and Ichigo can hardly remember their own friends, let alone each other. Now, they must work together to recall all that was lost, along with the dark secret that led to their punishment. Cowritten with LendraChan
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: We do not own Bleach...yet. Muahaha. -clears throats- Right. Since this is a co-written story, it is posted under both Lendra-Chan and M.C.E.Black, thus we both get equal credit for it. Understand that it is NOT by any means copied and/or stolen. It was an agreement on both parts of the authoresses. Thank you.**

**B. A/N: Hey there!! So, this here is the first chapter of what started as a roleplay between me and my awesome mexican boyfriend Lendra-Chan. (Haha. A joke between us.) Anyway, we thought it was pretty clever, and decided that since it was getting to be over 60 some-odd pages long, we should probably do something with it. So -theme music- Dun dun da daaaa! Here it is! **

**A. A/N: Okay, now it's LENDRA-CHAN'S TURN TO POST! Yeah, so that is Britney, my weirdo nucleus girlfriend (that consists along the same joking lines as the Mexican boyfriend bit) and we decided, ah HELL! It's pretty fricken' sweet if you ask me. However, this is a role play, so there is going to be rather…different situations that one wouldn't really expect in a regular story. Oh, and by the way, I TOTALLY thought up the title. -cackles maniacally- OH! And since Britney FAILED to mention this, I suppose I will. :3 The characters I played in the role play were - Ichigo, Kon, Renji, Hitsugaya, Urahara, Kira, SHIROSAKIIII, and additional characters Keigo, Mizuiro etc. I also started it off. -heart- … basically, I played every male… **

**Characters: (who wrote who B: See? I was getting to it...you impatient person, you...)  
Ichigo (And most other males): Alendra.  
Rukia (And most other females): Britney.**

**CINNAMON BLUES: An IchiRuki Story**

**AKA: "Good Morning. I Love You. Who Are You?"**

**Chapter 1**

"_**Oy... Oy, ------! C'mon, it's time to get up!..."**_

_**His fist was firmly knocking on his closet door; the sound echoing in the room. It always did this. Every morning and every night...**_

"_**HEY, ----!! I don't want to pull this damn closet open to see you changing so you'd better open up!!..." **_

_**It was a familiar feeling. It was welcoming. But his patience didn't accept the delay. He layed his hands upon the closet after a few more seconds of silence as his answer. He hesitated - as he always had- before roughly sliding his closet open to his awakening once more-- **_

"_**--!!"**_

Chocolate eyes shot open as he had abruptly awakened from the dream. It was the same dream he had almost every night. As soon as he'd open his closet, he'd wake up and be left to ponder the meaning of such a dream.

"...Ugh...Damn dreams..."

He agonizingly rubbed his eyes as he tried to forget the bothersome dream and fall back asleep. His head was aching and he'd be getting up for school in less than four hours. Finding it impossible to dwindle back to slumber, he glanced over at the journal lying on his table beside his bed. He knew it wasn't the one he had before but he couldn't remember where the other one had gone and this one had every date from the day he received the other journal, so what was the use...?

He reached over and grabbed it - flipping through the pages and landing on a familiar entry and reading it to himself

_My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. Sophemore class three, age 16. I have brown eyes and Orange hair - no, it's not dyed. I've been living my normal, ghost filled life as regularly as always. A few come to bug me every now and then, but it's never different... But recently, I've been having these weird dreams... Really weird..._

_--_

"_**Get up!"**_

_**The voice was urgent as it wafted through the thin wooden door. Rolling over, she pulled the covers over her head.**_

"_**Mmm..."**_

_**She groaned as her intruder's insistent knocking continued. She wondered what on Earth could possibly be more important than sleep at the moment.**_

"_**Rukia! Get up!" **_

_**She threw back the covers. She was used to it by now. This happened nearly every morning and had become quite the routine. If she didn't get up soon, he'd just- **_

"_**Don't make me open this door!" **_

_**She reached for the door herself, wrenching it open herself, the bright light from the room beyond nearly blinding her.**_

"_**I'm up, alrea-!"**_

Her eyes blinked open as she realized that everything had been a dream, once again.

"Miss Rukia, you need to get up."

That was not the same voice as before. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed that she was no longer in the closet she had been sleeping in moments before. But why on Earth had she been sleeping in a closet in the first place? Even if it was a dream?

"What time is it?"

She glanced around the room looking for a clock. A short balding man stood by the door, looking concerned.

"Are you alright, Miss Rukia?"

She nodded, feeling as though she'd forgotten something.

"Just a dream, that's all." Finally, she spotted it! The clock on the wall ticked loudly. Her eyes grew wide. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!"

Hurrying toward the closet, she ignored the man behind her, who'd begun to list off what was available for breakfast at the diner just below the motel she was staying in.

--

"IIIIIIIchigooooo!! Wake up already, damnit!" The voice was distinctly male and echoing behind his eyelids.

"Who...who is it..." He heard himself asking sleepily.

"W-Who is i--.. Why you! Bastard Ichigo! It's me ! Nee-san's already waiting for you at school, lazy ass! GET UP!"

He groaned as the voice seemed to get farther and farther away. "Nee-...what?"

The voice seemed to growl something else, but it was too far away for him to catch. He opened his eyes and gave a groan-morning. Slowly, Ichigo sat up, running a hand through his orange locks.

"...Ugh, my head..." He glanced at the clock beside his bed and chocked on his next intake of breath. "Sh-SHIT! I'm going to be late! Damnit, where's Yuzu and Dad when I need 'em?!"

--

Her footsteps echoed off the pavement as she took several turns down random alleyways in hopes of making it to class on time.

"I can't believe it..."

She hadn't bothered to eat anything before leaving, though the landlord of the motel had insisted on it. She hurried down another alley.

"Dammit! Isn't there a faster route? Oof!" She ran into something hard. Falling backward, she landed hard on the ground. "Ouch..."

She looked up to see a boy standing before her. For some reason, his orange hair gave her the strange feeling she'd seen him somewhere before.

Ichigo felt the little collision and roughly turned around to snap at the person who had run into him so carelessly in his hurry. However, his eyes met with the familiar sapphire iris' of the girl disheveled on the ground.

"Oh! Um.. Y'okay?"

Rukia blinked slowly, the brown eyes of the boy she'd bumped into boring into her own.

"I-I'm fine. Are you okay?" She felt herself turn red, though she could hardly understand why.

His eyebrows furrowed down into a scowl as they always did as his lips shifted into a pout at the girl's odd reaction.

"Yeah - I'm fine." He coughed and held out a hand to her to assist the small girl in getting up off the concrete ground.

She could sense that the boy was annoyed. Instead of taking the hand that was offered to her, she knocked it aside.

"I'm fine. I can get up myself." She hurried to her feet awkwardly and began to brush off her skirt.

Ichigo was surprised by her vulgar response and shoved his knocked off hand into his pocket irately and snuffed in irritancy.

"Big talk for someone who fell in the first place..." He mumbled under his breath.

Noticing that the boy didn't appear to be moving, she glared in his direction, wondering if he was expecting some sort of apology.

"Well, he's certainly not going to get one now..." she thought bitterly.

Ichigo humphed loudly as he briskly turned his back to her and continued to walk down the side walk quickly.

"Good riddance!"

Rukia watched as the boy stalked away. Though many streams of angry words were rushing through her mind at that moment, she was still bothered by the thought that she was certain she'd seen that scowl before.

"But where..."

She was quite aware that those passing by were certain to think that she was insane for talking aloud to herself like that, but she didn't seem to care. She wanted to know who that boy was and why he seemed so familiar to her.

"Hmmm..."

It took her a moment to realize that he was walking in the direction of her school.

Ichigo was walking with an annoyed slump to his shoulders as he stomped rather immaturely; Her insensitive reaction to his rarely given compliance had grated at his nerves more so than it should of and was already putting a damper on his already bad day. However, he couldn't shake off the familiarity of her indifference.

"Hmph, what should I care... damn bitch..." he muttered darkly.

Rukia hurried down the hallway leading toward her classroom, knowing that she was going to get in trouble for being late, and doing her best to shove the boy from her mind. Her hand reached hesitantly for the handle to the door, turning it slowly.

"_**Rukia-chan!"**_

_**Keigo Asano smiled brightly as she entered the room. A young woman to his right smiled as well and waved happily, her long red hair dancing about her waist.**_

_**'Why are you so late? You left before I did!' **_

_**The voice from the dream was back. It came from somewhere to her left. As she turned to face the source, she was brought back to reality by another sound behind her.**_

Rukia blinked. She was still standing in front of the classroom door, her hand resting on the handle. Behind her stood the orange haired boy she'd met on the street.

Ichigo scratched his head through his hair and grit his teeth.

"Oy, oy! What's with the delay?! You --" He paused as he recognized her and faltered. "S-Since when did you have my first class!!" He pointed at her brutishly.

Rukia kept her cool, even though the boy appeared more infuriating than before. "Your first class? And what makes this classroom yours?" She was both surprised and proud at how easily the comeback slipped from her mouth.

He growled and grit his teeth, slapping a hand down onto her head in order to make their difference in height painfully obvious.

"That ain't the point, y'a little--"

The classroom door was abruptly torn open as the teacher stood before them looking royally pissed.

"Kuchiki!! Kurosaki! What is the meaning of this! Get into this class immediately! We've got new seating!"

Rukia pushed her way past the boy into the classroom. The teacher moved back toward her desk, still glaring in their direction.

"Well! Are you just going to stand there?" she asked, gaping at them. "Your seats are just behind Asano and Inoue. Move!" Rukia looked back at the classroom, suddenly feeling very confused. It hit her as soon as she looked at the students before her. She had no idea who any of these people were.

Ichigo glanced at her and snuffed - quickly redirecting his gaze in the opposite direction.

"_So she's a transfer student -- and she sits next to me..."_

He somehow wanted to feel...relieved - though half of him wanted to feel more so irritated.

"_Great."_

Rukia wished the boy would hurry and find his seat so she could stop standing there looking like an idiot. If one of them didn't sit down soon, she was certain the teacher was going to blow a fuse.

"After you..." she said coolly, gesturing for the boy to move first.

He growled and fisted a hand in his pocket at her cool demeanor.

"_Why that condescending little..."_

He snappishly groaned as he sourly walked to his seat, barely offering a glance to his friend Keigo as he passed by.

She resisted the urge to smile as he sat down in his seat. There was an empty seat next to him, behind a girl with...incredibly long red hair. Rukia froze.

"_Do I...know her?" _Shaking her head, she drove the thought from her mind. _"Of course I know her. She's in my class...She's...She's..."._She ravaged her brain for a name.

"_Behind Asano and Inoue."_

"_She must be Inoue. Sounds like a girls name to me..." _

Realizing she was merely standing by her desk, she sat down quickly, avoiding the strange glances she received from the students around her. Especially the orange-haired boy to her left, who seemed to have taken an interest in staring at her.

Ichigo gave a loud sigh as he quickly glanced out the window in irritation. Keigo had turned around to make small talk with the girl and Ichigo attempted to keep his eyes focused on the chalk board - which he was finding very difficult to do. He prayed for class to end as soon as possible.

--

The bell for lunch was greatly welcomed, giving the students leave to go about their usual routines. Rukia, however, sat in her seat, unsure of where she was supposed to go; or rather, what she was supposed to do.

"Are you coming?"

The girl she believed to be Inoue had stopped in front of her desk, smiling broadly. Rukia looked around to see if she might have been talking to someone behind her.

"Huh? Me?"

Inoue giggled and grabbed Rukia by the arm, dragging her from the room. "Stop being so silly! Come eat with us!"

Ichigo watched as Inoue dragged the reluctant girl off for an estrogen party. He rubbed his temples wearily as he followed Keigo and his excited rambling about 'the new girl'.

"Keigo, seriously. She's not all that amazing." That's what he had said, though something was contradicting his presumption in the back of his mind.

"Sit!" Inoue insisted, tugging on Rukia's arm.

Rukia gave in reluctantly and stared at the girls surrounding her. Finally, their faces began to become clearer to her, as if she HAD seen them before. However, they were still entirely nameless.

"Are you going to eat anything?" Inoue asked, looking at Rukia's empty hands.

Rukia looked down. She had completely forgotten to pack a lunch. How on Earth had she forgotten to do that?

"_That's right. I was late."_

"That's all right!" Inoue smiled, if possible, even wider. "You can just share with me!"

She held out a box of something Rukia couldn't quite place a name to.

She shook her head politely. "No thank you."

Inoue shrugged, and began to eat heartily, causing crumbs to spill down her uniform. Ignoring the strange rumbling that had started in her stomach at the sight of the food before her, she focused on something past them. In the distance, she could see a group of boys. A flash of bright orange caused her to jump.

That boy was over there. That annoying, rude, pain-in-the-ass boy. Rukia had half a mind to march over to him and tell him exactly what she thought of him. However, Rukia frowned. She couldn't possibly do that. Not when she couldn't explain it to herself...

"_Why..."_ She asked herself. _"Why is it suddenly hard for me to breathe?"_

Lunch had been particularly systematic as always. Keigo had been his usual melodramatic self while Mizuiro simply dealt with his attitude by dangling bait in the form of witty comebacks. However, Keigo's focus had been narrowed on Rukia in particular. Why he had singled out such a girl was perplexing enough. Sure, she was new; but she wasn't exactly Keigo's normal form of attention. Ichigo scowled to himself and groaned in frustration as he bit into his sandwich in irritation; humbly ignoring the awkward stares he received from his fellow lunch mates.

"I wonder what Ichigo's eating right now." Inoue said aloud between large bites of what looked like a giant loaf of bread.

The girl sitting next to her rolled her eyes. "You say this every lunch. Why don't you just ask him sometime?"

Inoue blushed and shook her head. "I couldn't possibly ask such a personal question, Tatsuki!"

'Tasuki' sighed deeply and continued eating her lunch. Rukia looked back and forth from them, feeling quite out of the loop.

"You can ask ME what I have for lunch, 'Hime!" A girl to Rukia's left said, batting her eyes behind a fancy pair of glasses. "I'd be GLAD to tell you..."

Tatsuki glared at the girl in what seemed to be a very protective manner. Once again, Rukia felt quite confused. Finally, she decided to go for it. She asked the question she probably shouldn't have asked.

"Who's Ichigo?"

Ichigo stopped mid-bite and his face started to scrunch up suddenly.

"Yo...Ichi, you okay?" Mizuiro asked, peering at his friend curiously before Ichigo suddenly blew up with a large sneeze.

He sniffed loudly and rubbed his nose; shying away from the echo his sneeze had caused and cleared his throat - abruptly ignoring the frightened scattering birds and the excessive stares from even more students.

"Fine...just feeling the after affects of being talked about behind my back..."

The group of girls jumped at the sound of someone sneezing far off. Inoue turned to stare in the direction of the boys. When she turned back to them, her eyes were wide.

"That was him! I know it was!"

Rukia blinked slowly, still waiting for the answer to her question.

Tatsuki tried to ignore her friend. "What do you mean 'Who's Ichigo?' You've known him for ages now, Rukia."

Rukia blinked again. "I...have? Oh..." She nodded quickly, deciding to back herself out of the tight spot she'd just put herself in. "Of course I have! I remember now! I'm sorry..."

Tatsuki shook her head, as Rukia avoided her gaze. "Sad really. And to think you forgot the name of the person you showed up late with this morning..."

Rukia's head shot up.

Ichigo sniffed and stared off rather irritably after finishing off the last of his sandwich. Suddenly, his shoulders were abruptly seized as Keigo insistently shook him, demanding his attention.

"Ichigo-Ichigo-Ichigooo!!"

Ichigo growled and delivered a uppercut, snapping at his friend. "What the hell, Keigo! Whaddya want?!"

Keigo sniffed as he quickly recovered from he blow. "You can't just ignore me like this, Ichigo! I was asking you a question! What are your thoughts on the new girl?!"

Ichigo gave him a hooded stare and snuffed in displeasure. "I have no thoughts on 'the new girl'."

Ichigo quickly brushed Keigo's hands from his shoulders as Keigo stared in horror at his blunt reply.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Tatsuki asked, staring at Rukia, whose focus seemed to be somewhere to the left of her shoulder. Suddenly, Tatsuki's eyes grew wide. She seemed to understand, though she was rather confused, herself. "You really didn't-"

_**BRRRIIIIINNGG!!**_

The bell sounded loudly over the grounds, beckoning the children back to class. For the rest of the day, Rukia found it hard to ignore that boy to the left of her.

_Ichigo..._

The name echoed through her mind like some old memory.

_Ichigo..._

Ichigo felt her insistent stare on his back and tried his best to not make eye contact with her. It was bad enough he was living in a haze of constant de ja vu with her around, but having the feeling of her sapphire eyes boring into him was enough to set his spine on chills.

--

**A/N: Okay, so that's the end of the first chapter. We have a lot of chapter splitting up to do, but hey, who needs to do homework/sleep anyway? Tell us please if you like it, so we'll keep going. We leave you with a lovely little conversation that came up while discussing possible titles:**

**B: Okay, first though, we need a title**

**B: Memoirs of a Shinigami was the cleverest one I could think of**

**B: But I think that's taken**

**B: or or or SHINIGAMI: A SOAP OPERA**

**A: Memory Riddles?**

**B: Solving a Memory**

**A: I like quirky titles**

**B: I dunno...mine are usually like clever...**

**A: I kinda want riddles to be in the title for some reason**

**A: Speaking in Riddles**

**A: Speaking in Riddles sounds cool**

**B: Yeah, the only problem with that...is yeah, Riddles come into play, but some people may not get it...**

**B: Omg...we should put this argument in our A/N**

**B: be like: TITLE Discussion**

**A: LMFAO yes.**

**A: wow**

**A: we're dorks**

**B: A Smutty Story That Wasn't Supposed To Be Smutty**

**A: well - speaking in riddles would make sense to those who are smart :-)**

**A: and that would just motivate the horny ones, dear...:-)**

**It goes on for a while, but we didn't really want to bore you. So yes, that gives you a little sneak peek into the future, and since we agreed to rate it M, we can pretty much do whatever we want with it. :-) Hope you enjoyed it and please review. -Waves Happily- Bai bai!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Cinnamon Blues: An IchiRuki Story**

**AKA: "Good Morning. I Love You. Who Are You?"**

**Chapter 2**

**M.C.E.Black:** Hey there everyone. We apologize so much for keeping you waiting for so long. We just got caught up in the hustle and bustle of ending school and...well...rp-ing like crazy. I think Lendra might hate me now...hehe. But anyways. This story will probably be in several...parts. We've pretty much finished the first part of the story, and are continuing on with a slightly different plot line. Maybe we'll come up with more and this will just be a really long collection of amazing drabbles. I don't know. Just a forewarning, hehe, we decided that we were going to take the M-rating seriously. Nothing will happen for like 50 million chapters, but it will be there, so be aware of that. Oh and also, it's rated for Ichigo's terrible pottymouth. So...I guess that's it for my rambling. Hope you enjoy it!

**Lendra-chan:** Um... Yo. Wasssap meh homies. Yeah, so our rp is really...wow, it's out there. We're just kinda meshing every idea we have all together and hoping it comes out well! I do agree with Britney-dearest, though. This will probably develop into drabbles of stuff. I do hope that we'll come up with an rp soon that has a really thick plot line and won't stray so much. Yey. Oh and yeah -- Ichigo's pretty...dirty...-snickers-

Rukia walked home that night, feeling as though she was being watched the entire time. It was an eerie feeling that caused her to become quite paranoid, avoiding her, what she assumed to be her usual route home, through the darkened alleys. To be completely honest, she didn't ever remember walking home, or even the exact location of where "home" was.

"Nee-san!" A shrill voice sounded from the nearest alley.

Looking around, Rukia couldn't spot the source of the voice.

"Huh?"

_Were they talking to me?_

"Nee-san!"

The voice repeatedly called out the name. It sounded insistent and urgent, causing Rukia to panic a bit. Was a child in trouble somewhere? Was someone calling for help?

"NEE-SAN!" The voice sounded once again, very close.

Rukia froze as she felt herself step on something soft.

"ACK! OW!"

Rukia leapt back, staring down at the ground in amazement. A small stuffed animal was laying where her foot had been only moments before. The true shock set in, when she saw the little thing move it's arm.

Kon grunted as the girl he had been calling out to abruptly stepped on him, before finally taking notice of him and staring down at him curiously. He grinned brightly and waved at her fondly.

"YO, Nee-san! I've missed you so!" He quickly stood up, taking note that no one else was around and hopped up to cling onto her. "It's been so looong!!"

Rukia was surprised at the creature's forward actions, however, she still couldn't seem to wrap her head around the idea that this stuffed animal was talking to her. He even seemed to know who she was.

"I-I think you've mistaken me with someone else." She told him awkwardly, still wondering why he was clinging to her shoulder.

He stared at her. "N-Nee-san?"

Rukia shook her head. The creature blinked in disbelief.

"Nee-san! It's me! Don't tease me like this Nee-san..." His eyes got huge and almost teary as he stared at her. "N-Nee san?"

He gaped momentarily before bursting out into spontaneous laughter.

"It's a joke, right?! Funny, Nee-san!" He scuttled up to her shoulder and tapped her cheek with his paw, attempting to be cheery. "It's me! Kon!"

"I'm sorry..." Rukia shook her head once more. "I'm afraid that I've never seen you bef-..." She paused, as something seemed to click in the back of her mind. "What did you say your name was?"

Kon's heart had stopped mometarily, fearing that the rumor that had drifted from Urahara Shoten was indeed true.

"I-It's me... Kon..." His voice seemed to crack a little at her disregard of her memory of him. Something that truly hurt.

"Kon..."

The name seemed to roll off her tongue quite easily, as though she'd said it many a time before. Staring back at the creature, she wondered where she'd seen him before, if indeed she had. Perhaps he was an old toy of hers coming back to haunt her. Or her imagination or the dark playing mind tricks on her. Or...

"_Or perhaps it's because I haven't eaten. I'm hallucinating."_

However, the look on the creature's face was one of great disappointment. Part of her felt almost obligated to bring him home with her. And judging by his actions, he would not take much convincing.

"Kon..." she nodded. "Of course. Now I remember."

He brightened immediately and stood on her shoulder on all fours.

"Really?!" He grinned and gave a laugh as he wiped his brow. "Phew! Geez, Nee-san, you sure put up a good act! You had me worried that the rumors were actually true! But of course you couldn't forget your dear Kon, now could you?" He laughed jovially and stayed perched quite merrily on her shoulder.

As the two continued down the street, 'Kon' happily sitting on her shoulder, Rukia became curious about the rumors he'd mentioned twice so far.

"Kon..." She said awkwardly, trying to sound as though she truly knew who he was. "What rumors are you talking about?" She asked.

Kon shifted himself into a more comfortable position before answering. Rukia braced herself for news that may well answer many of the questions that had been plaguing her mind throughout the day.

He sat so his back was rested against the side of her head; tapping at his cheek in thought before shrugging nonchalantly as though the fact that she had admitted to knowing him was good enough to bypass such rumors.

"...They were mentioning on how Soul Society had wiped your memory slate clean. Along with Ichigo..." He shook his head and became rather sullen again, noticing the true weight of the matter. "...Ichigo surely didn't recognize me...So I was afraid you wouldn't either..." He smiled against and perked up once more. "I'm so glad you _do _though! I was so worried!"

Though his face was all grins and his pose was all cheery, something in his demeanor suggested a deep sullen sadness at Ichigo's loss of memory and her hesitance in answering to him before.

Rukia started a bit at the mention of the orange-haired boy again. "Ichigo?" She asked, looking confused. "How do you know-"

"Oh, Nee-san. I'm just so glad the rumors weren't true. You know, that Urahara makes me wonder sometimes, when he says-"

Rukia could feel her head spinning. Nothing was coming together at all. "Who?!"

Kon turned to stare at her, his happy expression fading quickly. Rukia knew he was figuring it out. She could tell by the fading glint in his eye, that he knew the truth.

Kon stared a moment before slowly inching up to stand.

"...Rukia..." For the first time addressed her. "...Do you know me...?"

Rukia wasn't sure how to answer. This Kon, this stuffed animal, this...thing, certainly did know who she was. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps her mind had been erased by the...Soul Scraper-whatever.

Frowning, she decided to answer honestly. "No. I might have at one point in my life, but I can honestly say that I have no idea who you are, why you look like you do, or why you're resting on my shoulder. Or how you know who Ichigo is. I...I really don't know anything right now, and I...I'm scared." She pulled him off her shoulder to stare at him in her hands. "But I think you can help me. You knew the me that I don't. You can help me remember. Do you think you can do it?"

Kon's heart hat sunken in to the point he could feel his own pulse, if he truly had one. That was brought into question that very moment. If he had proper hands, he knew that they'd be fisted. and if he had proper eyes, he knew they'd be crying. But instead of showing her a face he knew she didn't need, he managed to hold her gaze; the gaze he had come to be so familiar with.

"The Rukia I knew could do anything..."

"Anything?" Rukia didn't know what he meant by that. She was certain she'd never had anyone look at her as he did in that very moment. "What do you mean by anything? Was I some kind of hero?"

She had asked this question as a joke, but as Kon nodded, she froze. At the moment, Rukia had been frightened by what she didn't know. Mere memories that no one really cared if she could remember or not, save for the creature in front of her. But the Rukia before, the Rukia she couldn't remember, she was different. She wouldn't have been bothered by this. She was...someone entirely different.

"Nee-san?" Kon looked up at her, suddenly looking very concerned. Her expression had grown dark.

"_Look at me..." _She thought to herself, seeing her reflection in a nearby window. _"I am nothing but a school girl. I am weak. I am no hero..." _In the reflection, her appearance was small, reflecting how she felt on the inside. _"Look how far I've fallen..."_

Kon squirmed in her hold, attempting to catch her attention. "Rukia...?"

"Kon..." She said quietly. "Can we talk about this later? I'm...I think I need to sit down."

He blinked a few times, rather confused by her reaction. "Y-Yeah sure... Anything, Nee-san.."

They walked the rest of the way in silence. When they returned to the motel, Rukia sat Kon down on her bed and began pacing back and forth, trying to put together the pieces she'd already learned.

"Alright. Let's start with the things I do know. My name is Rukia Kuchiki. I am..." She froze, staring at Kon. "How old am I?!"

Kon gulped and cleared his throat. "W-well...your gigai is supposed to be the match age sixteen!"

He evaded easily but spit out the truth when Rukia gave him a harsh glare.

"G-Gomen, Nee-san! Ah.. I-If I remember right, you once mentioned you being around.. 200 or so..." He made sure the last part was a mere whisper.

"200!?" Rukia fell back onto her bed, suddenly feeling very lightheaded. Kon hurried to her side, patting her forehead lightly. "Okay, so to everyone else, I'm 16. I was once this hero. And now I'm a normal everyday teenager. How the hell does Ichigo come into this? Is he my boyfriend or something?"

Kon faltered and growled. "T'hell if I can help it! That bastard wouldn't notice his own damn feelings if they came and bit him in the ass!"

He ranted off, momentarily angered by her presumption of Ichigo.

Rukia sat up, staring at him. "So...he is my boyfriend?"

Kon became aghast and shook his head multiple times. "He most certainly is not!"

"Oh." Rukia frowned.

"Don't look so disappointed!" Kon shouted, sounding angrier by the minute.

"I'm not!" Rukia insisted. She was, but not for the reasons he was thinking. She thought that, for a moment, they might have hit on another breakthrough. Kon didn't seem to believe her. He continued to mutter angrily to himself.

Kon gave a large sigh as he attempted to cool his angry demeanor down and sighed loudly. "Ichigo isn't your boyfriend Nee-san, though you two have an interesting enough relationship..."

Rukia found herself suddenly very interested. "Really? What do you mean? He seemed to hate me this morning..."

Kon tapped his head in thought much like Pooh Bear though there was obviously no relation as he attempted to discern such behavior. "Ah, Ichigo's always like that, really."

"He is?" Rukia looked down at her hands. She was twisting them in a nervous manner, though she could hardly think of what was making her feel that way. "W-Why?"

Kon tilted his head as he looked up at her curiously. "Something wrong, Nee-san?"

Rukia shook her head, trying to convince herself more than Kon. "No. No, I'm just curious that's all. Why is he so angry toward everyone? Does he have any friends?"

Kon snuffed and folded his arms, waving his paw in the air as if to shake off any feelings of remorse. "T'hell if I know! You and I were one of the closest! And perhaps some of those kids form school."

"That Inoue girl seems pretty close to him..." Rukia's head shot up, suddenly very curious. "Are they close?"

Kon held his tongue before he went off on another rampage. "Aahh, Perhaps on Orihime-chan's side. Ichigo sees her as more of a ... close classmate, sort of..." He twitched and sighed. "I suppose they could be considered close..."

Rukia wasn't sure why that bothered her so much. If she and Ichigo were supposed to be close, why was he suddenly, possibly, even closer to another girl, who obviously saw him as something more than a friend? The pieces of her past didn't seem to be fitting together as well as she'd been hoping. Instead of pressing on, she decided to change the subject.

"Explain to me everything." She sat herself in a comfortable position, facing Kon. "Tell me everything I need to know. About this Soul thing, about Ichigo and about you. I want to know."

Kon stared at her; something in his heart couldn't possibly resist that request. Not from Rukia. He sighed and gave a smile as he nodded.

"Right... Though, I'll need to get more comfy..." He added slyly as he pawed over to plop himself gently into her lap; attempting to make the atmosphere as little tense as possible before delving into a story that would dredge up something he could barely even amount to comprehensible. "...It starts...with Ichigo..."

Rukia listened to Kon's story, drinking in every word that uttered from his stitched mouth. When he finished, she was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, Kon tucked comfortably under her arm. It was a pose he was certainly not used to, but welcomed greatly at such a time as this. He hadn't been this close to his Nee-san in what seemed like ages.

"Is that everything?" She asked, sounding very tired, though her eyes were wide and attentive.

"Yes..." Kon answered, though there was a tone of doubt in his voice.

Rukia sighed deeply. "Very well. I think that's enough for tonight. I'm rather tired actually." Reaching out, she pulled the small chain on her bedside lamp. "Good night, Kon..."

Kon gave a small sigh; the gentle drum of her heart beat rather soothing but the pain within it so hard to ignore. Kon shook his head, nuzzling deeper into the warmth of the woman he admired; trying to forget today's worries in the slumber for tomorrow.

"...Goodnight... Rukia..."

**A/N:** So there we are. The next chapter will be up soon...hopefully. Except...Alendra has to send me (Britney speaking, btw) part of the next chapter, cause I lost the conversation...(-smacks computer-). Oh, we also decided that we were going to end each chapter with a funny little excerpt of something we talked about while rp-ing this story. So, once you're done reading it, please review! We'd greatly appreciate it!

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http://s29**(dot)photobucket (dot)com/albums/c298/Lendra-chan/?actionview¤tBUNNYINVASION; (dot)gif**

**Replace the (dots) with actual periods and check out the picture to know how the following conversation came about.**

**----**

Britney: ..."fuzzy bunnies"...

Britney::ANYWAYS

Alendra:LMFAO

Alendra:SICKO!

Britney: I didn't say anything!!!

Britney: I DID NOTHING BUT SAY FUZZY BUNNIES

Alendra: YOU INFERED TO SOMETHING SEXUAL

Britney: YOU IMPLIED BAD STUFF

Britney: YOU INFERRED IT!

Alendra: I DID NOT

Alendra: I WAS SIMPLY REFERING TO THE ACTUAL BUNNIES THAT BASICALLY MOLSTED RUKI

Alendra: IT WAS IN QUOTES

Britney: I KNOW!!

Alendra: YOU CAN'T PUT THINGS IN QUOTES

Britney: ...I WAS QUOTING YOU!!

Alendra: LIES

Britney: HENCE THE QUOTES

Alendra: MORE LIES

Britney: YOU KNOW WHAT...YOU KNOW WHAT

Britney: GO DRINK POISON

Alendra: GO DRINK POISON

Britney: OH I BEAT YOU!

Alendra: I totally came up with that! You unoriginal whore!

Alendra: FRIGGEN PROSTITUTE NUCLEUS!

Britney: AND YOU KNOW WHAT?

Britney: MAYBE I'LL JUST DRIVE BY YOUR HOUSE!

Britney: Oh, so now I'm a whore? You know what? I'm gonna drive by...

Britney: And point and laugh...

Britney: And drive by again.

Britney: cause I think your road's a dead end...

Alendra: I have a shot gun.

Britney:...

Alendra: -snickers-

Britney: O.O

Britney: YOU HORRIBLE PERSON!


End file.
